Air cleansing and cooling device



Oct. 18, 1932. c. w. FREEMAN AIR CLEANSING AND COOLING DEVICE Filed Oct. 4, 1950 3 Sheets-Sheet gzzt U Wfieem an Oct. 18, 1932. c. w. FREEMAN AIR CLEANSING AND COOLING DEVICE Filed Oct. 4, 1930 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 gmvnto'c 6. F re 67716171 Oct. 18, 1932.

c w. FREEMAN AIR CLEANSING AND COOLING DEVICE Filed Oct. 4, 1930 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Patented Oct. 18, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE i OLAUD W. FREEMAN, OF FORT WORTH, TEXAS AIR CLEANSING AND COOLING DEVICE Application filed October 4, 1930. Serial No. 486,436;

. advantage may be taken of the cold water formed therein by the ice which is employed for cooling the contents thereof. p

Still another object of the invention is to provide an air cleansing and cooling device employing means for maintaining a forced circulation of air through moisture laden elements therein, the reduction in the temperature of the air being brought about as a result of the evaporation of the moisture from these elements, in the usual well known manner.

The invention will be best understood from a consideration of the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, with the understanding, however, that the invention is not confined to any strict conformity with the showing of the drawings but may be changed or modified so long as such changes or modifications mark no material departure from the salient features of the invention as expressed in the appended claims.

In the drawings Figure 1 shows one form of the present invention in front elevation.

Figure 2 is a vertical fore and aft longitudinal sectional view of the same.

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken on the I line 33 of Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a vertical transverse sectional view through a portion of a moisture holding .to place. The top element forming a part of the cooling structure.

Figure 5 is a view in frontelevation, with parts broken away, of a modified form of the structure shown'in Figure 1.

Figure 6 is a vertical sectional view extending from the front to the rear of another modified form of the invention.

Figure 7 is a View in front elevation of a combined air cooler and refrigerator.

Figure 8 is a vertical transverse sectional view through another form of moisture retaining device.

Referring more particularly to, the draw-- ings wherein like numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views, in the form shown in Figure l the device is indicated generally by the numeral 1 and, as shown, it comprises an upright cabinet, preferably of rectangular crosssectional design and mounted upon casters 2 so that it may be readily moved from place of the cabinet is closed by a hinged. lid 3 and the upper portion of the front wall thereof is provided with an opening 4; which, upon the inner side of the wall, is surrounded by an annular shield 5. This opening 4 is covered by a screen 6 of relatively fine mesh Mounted in a suitable supporting bracket 7 Within the cabinet 1 behind the opening 4 is an electric fan motor 8, the fan 9 of which is located within the annular shield or hood 5 and concentric therewith as shown.

Encasing the motor 8 and forming a'chamber therefor in the upper front part of the cabinet is a Wall 10 which has a bottom portion 11 attached thereto which extends downwardly and forwardly as shown in Figure 2, terminating on a line spaced from the front wall of the cabinet so that a passage 12 is formed from the lower part of the cabinet up into the motor chamber which is indicated generally by the numeral 13. A- top wall 14 extends from the back wall 10 to the front wall of the cabinet thus completing with the side walls of the cabinet the chamber 13 in which the fan motor is housed. The top wall 14 for the chamber may have an opening therein covered by a cap 15 so that access may be had to the motor when and if neces i the cabinet. The vertical sheets 20 are connected by transverse strips 21 of the same material.

In the lower part of the cabinet 1 is a pan 22 which receives water passing downwardly thereto from a body placed upon the bars 19 which may be either a cake of me, such as that indicated at 23, or it may be a suitable water carrying receptacle which would allow the water to seep slowly therefrom downwardly onto the absorbent sheets beneath. The bars 19 are covered by a cloth body of absorbent material, which is indicated by the numeral 24. This serves to distribute t e water flowingthereonto to the various suspended bodies 20.

In Figure 5 the same structure is shown which has been illustrated in Figures 1 to 3 inclusive and just described with the addition of a water pump 25 of any suitable construction from which there extends downwardly a suction pipe 26 which terminates in the water receiving receptacle in the bottom of the cabinet, which receptacle is here indicated by the numeral 22*, the present cabinet being indicated generally by the numeral 1 This pump has its operating shaft (not shown) connected by means of a suitable connection, such as the pulley belt 27, with the shaft of the fan motor which is here indicated by the numeral 8" When the fan motor is in operation the fan sucks air in through the opening in the back of the cabinet, which opening is indicated in the structure shown in Figure 2 by the numeral 16, drawing it between the moisture laden bodies 20 and 21 and up to and driving it from the opening in the front of the cabinet, behind which it is positioned.

The air, during its passage between the bodies 20 and 21, is materially lowered in temperature and as the moisture evaporates from the bodies 20 and 21 it is replaced either by the water dripping from the melting ice body 23 or it is sucked up from the pan 22 by the pump 25 and discharged over the tops of the bodies 20 and 21 from the discharge nozzle 28 of the pump.

meral 29, is provided with the front and rear circular openings or windows 30 and 31 respectively, each of which is covered by a suitable screen 32 and each of which is surrounded by a circular hood or shield 33 moiilnted upon the inner face of the adjacent wa within the upper part of the cabinet as, for example, by a transverse bracket 34 is a motor 35, the shaft 36 of which extends from the front to the rear of the cabinet, carrying upon each end a seriesof fan blades 39, each series being housed within a hood or shield 33 in the manner illustrated.

Extending from the rear forwardly and downwardly within the cabinet to a point adjacent the front wall thereof, and at a level beneath the openings 31 and 32, is a series of rods 40, like the rods 19 shown in Figure 2.

These rods are covered by an absorbent cloth 41 and each has suspended therefrom sheets 42, like the sheets 20, adjacent ones being connected by the horizontal portions shown in dotted lines and indicated by the numeral 43, which horizontal portions correspond to the portions 21 of this structure as illustrated in Figures 2, 3 and 4. The rods 40, like the rods 19, terminating along a line spaced from the front wall of the cabinet 29 leave a vertical passage 44 leading upwardly toward the front opening 30. Above the rods 40 and adjacent their forwardends a partition wall 45 is located so that when the fans 39 are in operation the air drawn into the cabinet by the rear fan may not pass directly to the front to be driven out by the front fan.

It will thus be seen that the air which is 'taken into the cabinet by the rear fan 39 will be forced down through the cover 41 which lies over the upper ends of the hangpart of the cabinet through the pipe 51, discharging it through the nozzle 52 over the cover 41 from where it passes down backto the pan along the hanging and connected sheets 42.

In Figure 7 there is illustrated a combined air cooling structure, such as is illustrated in'Figure 1 and which is here indicated generally by the numeral 53, and a refrigerator which is indicated generally by the numeral 54. The interior construction of the cabinet 53 may be the same as the cabinet shown in Figures 1 to 3, any means being employed for transferring the water supplied by the melting ice in the refrigerator to the hanging absorbent bodies in the lower portion of the cabinet. The structure 53 1n this combined form of air cooler and refrigerator may also, if desired, be like the structure shown in Figure 6, the drippings from the ice in the refrigerator being allowed to pass directly by any suitable means to the pan from which it may be withdrawn by the pump 49 to be sprayed over the absorbent cloths.

In Figure 8 there is illustrated a modified form of the hanging absorbent cloths. In this form a series of sheets 54 are provided which are like the sheets 20. Each of these sheets 54 has a cloth body 55 secured thereto and stitched in such a manner as to provide transverse horizontal corrugations, the tops of whichcontact with the adjacent cloths.

From the foregoing description it will be readily seen that an air cooling device constructed in accordance with the present invention, may be inexpensively produced and will efficiently cleanse and cool the air passing therethrough.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is v 1. An air cleansing and cooling device, comprising a cabinet having an inlet opening in one wall and an outlet opening in an opposite wall, a fan disposed before one of said openings, a motor for operating said fan, a chamber enclosing the fan and covering-the adjacent opening and further having an inlet through the lower part thereof, a plurality of absorbent bodies suspended to hang vertically in the cabinet between the inlet and the outlet openings, a liquid receiving receptacle in the bottom of the cabinet, and means for removing the liquid from the receptacle and discharging it over the absorbent elements.

2. An air cleansing and cooling device, comprising a cabinet having opposite walls provided with inlet and outlet openings, a motor mounted between said openings and having a shaft having each end located within an opening, fan elements on each end of said shaft designed to rotate about an axis concentric with the adjacent opening, a partition disposed vertically between said openings and extending downwardly to a plane beneath the same, a plurality of supporting elements extending forwardly and downwardly in the cabinet from the rear wall thereof and lying beneath said partition, said elements terminating in a line spaced from the front wall of the cabinet and located forwardly of said partition, a plurality of absorbent elements suspendedfrom said first mentioned elements and extending to the bottom of the cabinet, a liquid receptacle in the bottom of the cabinet, and a pump element operated from said motor shaft and acting to draw liquid from said receptacle for discharge over said absorbent elements.

3. In an air cleansing and cooling device. an absorbent element structure designed to have a current of air passed therethrough. I

comprising a plurality of spaced sheets, and

horizontally disposed connecting strips ar-' ranged between said sheets and secured at their longitudinal edges to adjacent ones thereof.

4. In an air cleansing and cooling device provide a series of transverse corrugations,

the tops of the corrugations of one sheet being disposed in close relation to an adjacent sheet.

5. An air cleansing and cooling device, comprising a cabinet having an air inlet and an outlet opening, a casing within the cabinet and covering said outlet opening, said casing having the lower part opening downwardly into the cabinet in a plane below the outlet opening, a plurality of rod members supported between the lower portion of said casing and a wall of the cabinet, an absorbent material over ying said members and designed to distribute moisture thereover, a plurality of moisture absorbing bodies hanging from said members and extending into the lower portion of the cabinet, and 9. moisture retaining receptacle in the lower portion of the cabinet, said hanging bodies being arranged between said openings to have air drawn therebetween across both surfaces of each in its passage through the cabinet.

6. An air cleansing and cooling device, comprising a cabinet having opposite walls provided with inlet and outlet openings, a partition disposed vertically in the upper part of the cabinet and obstructing direct communication between said openings, said partition having its lower edge arranged in a plane below the bottoms of said openings, an electric motor suspended in the upper part of said cabinet and having a shaft disposed concentric with said openings and having each end terminating adjacent one of the same, a fan upon each end of said shaft, one being designed to draw'air into the cabinet and the other being designed to eject air therefrom, a plurality of bars suspended in the cabinet beneath the bottom planes of said openings and connected at one end with the wall of the cabinet through which the inlet opening is formed and having their other ends terminating adjacent the lower edge of said partition, a plurality of moisture absorbing bodies suspended from said bars and extending downwardly into the lower part of the cabinet, a moisture retaining pan in the lower portion of the cabinet having said moisture retaining bodies extended thereinto and means for maintaining said bodies in a moist condition.

In testimony whereof I hereunto aflix my signature.

CLAUD W. FREEMAN, 

